We want Yocura to be enjoyable and safe for everyone. These ground rules are designed to ensure that parents and sitters have a five-star booking when using Yocura. Please take a moment to read them. Because whether you’re a parent trying to book a sitter for your kids – or a partner wanting to earn money as a sitter – your behavior matters.

Respect each other

Treat your fellow parents and sitters as you would like to be treated yourself: with respect. Always try to be on time for your booking because nobody likes to wait. It’s common courtesy not to shout, swear or slam the front door. And by tidying up after yourself – whether it’s taking your trash home or cleaning up a spilled drink – you’ll keep the home in good condition and ensure the parent has a pleasant booking, too. Most important of all, remember that when you use Yocura you will meet people who may look different or think differently from you. Please respect those differences. We want everyone to feel welcome when they use Yocura.

Give parents and sitters some personal space

We all value our personal space and privacy. It’s OK to chat with your sitter. But please don’t comment on someone’s appearance or ask whether they are single. And don’t touch or flirt with your sitter in the house. As a reminder, Yocura has a no sex rule. That’s no sexual conduct between sitters and parents, no matter what.

Safety first

Everyone wants to have a pleasurable booking experience. So please ensure that you follow the local law. Whether you’re in the front or the back seat, buckle up when you get into the car and make sure that you buckle up the child you’re looking after. Of course, sitters have a particular responsibility when it comes to safety at Yocura. That means keeping to the speed limit; not texting while driving; always using a phone mount; and never driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. And if you’re driving and feel tired, take a break. As the experts say, “sleep is the only true preventative measure against the risks of drowsy driving.”

Children must be supervised

Only adults can have a Yocura parent account. If your child is using your account, a parent or guardian must be with them at all times.

Feedback makes us all better

Whether you are a parent or sitter, please rate your booking at the end of each booking. Honest feedback helps ensure that everyone is accountable for their behavior. This accountability creates a respectful, safe environment for both parents and sitters. And if something happens during a ride – whether it’s a traffic accident or an argument – make sure to report it by tapping “Contact Us” in the app so that our customer support team can follow up.

The guidelines below help explain some of the specific kinds of behavior that may cause you to lose access to Yocura as a parent or sitter.

WHY PARENTS CAN LOSE ACCESS TO YOCURA

This policy helps explain the kinds of behavior that may lead parents to lose access to Yocura. Please remember that if you’re making the booking, or you allow other people to book a sitter with your account, you are responsible for their behavior.

Ensuring a respectful, safe environment for all sitters, parents and children

The way you behave while using Yocura can have a big impact on the safety and comfort of sitter, as well as your family members and your kids. Courtesy matters. That’s why you are expected to exercise good judgment and behave decently towards other people in the house when booking with Yocura just as you would in any public place.

Physical contact with the sitter.As our community guidelines make clear, you shouldn’t touch or flirt with your sitter. As a reminder, Yocura has a no sex rule. That’s no sexual conduct with sitters, no matter what. And you should never hit or otherwise hurt a sitter.

Use of inappropriate and abusive language or gestures.For example, asking overly personal questions, using verbal threats, and making comments or gestures that are aggressive, sexual, discriminatory, or disrespectful.

Unwanted contact with the sitter after the booking is over.For example, texting, calling, or visiting someone in person after a booking has been completed. Remember, in all bookings you can call and leave notes to the sitter directly from the Yocura app without ever having to share your personal phone number. This means that your phone number stays anonymous and is never given to the sitter.

Breaking the local law while using Yocura.For example, using Yocura to commit a crime, including drug and human trafficking or the sexual exploitation of sitters.

If we are made aware of this type of problematic behavior, we will contact you so we can investigate them. Depending on the nature of the concern, we may put a hold on your account during our investigation. If the issues raised are serious or a repeat offense, or you refuse to cooperate, you may lose access to Yocura. Any behavior involving violence, sexual misconduct, harassment, discrimination, or illegal activity while using Yocura can result in the immediate loss of your account. Additionally, when law enforcement is involved, we will cooperate with their investigation in accordance with our Law Enforcement Guidelines.

Terms of Use

As a parent, you agree to our Terms of Use when you sign up for your account. We may take action against you for violating these terms, including permanently closing your account. For example the failure to maintain accurate, complete, and up-to-date account information, including having an invalid or expired payment method on file; allowing a person who does not meet the minimum age requirement to use your account while unaccompanied, or if you don’t meet that age requirement yourself.

Firearms Ban

Yocura prohibits parents and sitters from carrying firearms in a vehicle or in the house while using our app. You can reach out to us on support@yocura.com to learn more about our firearms prohibition policy. If you violate Yocura’s firearms prohibition policy, you may lose access to Yocura.

Discrimination

Yocura has a zero tolerance policy towards discrimination of any kind. This means you will lose access to your account if you are found to have discriminated against sitters based on their race, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, gender identity, age or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.

Fraud or Illegitimate Behavior

Fraudulent or illegitimate behavior undermines the trust on which Yocura is built. We may deactivate any account(s) associated with this type of activity, including: abusing promotions; collusion between parent and sitter; disputing service duration for fraudulent or illegitimate reasons; or duplicate accounts.

WHY SITTERS CAN LOSE ACCESS TO YOCURA

If you are a sitter, and your account is temporarily blocked or deactivated, it limits your ability to make a booking. That’s why we believe it is important to have clear policies that explain the circumstances in which you may be denied access to Yocura; how (if at all) you can use the app again; and if you can appeal these decisions. [2]

There will always be unforeseen events that may ultimately lead to you losing access to your sitter account – and we’ll update this policy regularly – but the following are sufficient cause for Yocura to take action: quality; safety; fraud; and discrimination.

Quality

Sitters who use Yocura expect their sitters to drive safely, and to be courteous and professional when in the house. The higher the quality of the service, the more parents will want to book, which in turn means more opportunities for sitters to earn money. Poor service has the opposite effect over time. There are several ways we measure sitter quality, with the most important being Star Ratings and Cancellation Rate.

Star Ratings

After every booking, sitters and parents are able to rate each other on a scale of one to five stars, as well as give feedback on how the booking went. This two-way system holds everyone accountable for their behavior. Accountability helps create a respectful, safe environment for both sitters and parents. Sitters can see their current rating in the Ratings tab of the Yocura Sitter app.

The easiest way to keep your average rating high is to provide good service on every booking and to not have any no-shows. Sitters using Yocura typically provide excellent service, so most bookings go smoothly. But we know that sometimes a booking doesn’t go well-that’s why we only look at your average rating over your most recent 500 bookings (or your total rated booking count, if under 500). This gives you the chance to improve over time.

What leads to you losing access to your account? There is a minimum average rating in each city. This is because there are cultural differences in the way people in different cities rate each other. We will alert you over time if your rating is approaching this limit, and you’ll also get information about quality improvement courses/classes that may help you improve. However, if your average rating still falls below the minimum after multiple notifications, you will lose access to your account. We may allow you to regain access to your account if you can provide proof that you completed one of these quality improvement courses.

Cancellation Rate

A sitter cancellation is when you accept a booking request and then cancel the same booking. Cancellations create a poor parent experience and negatively affect other sitters. We understand that there may be times when something comes up and you have to cancel an accepted booking. But minimizing cancellations is critical for the reliability of the system.

How is my cancellation rate calculated? Your cancellation rate is based on the number of bookings canceled out of the total number of bookings you accept. (For example, if you’ve accepted 100 bookings and 4 of them are canceled, your cancellation rate would be 4%.) High-quality sitters typically have a cancellation rate lower than 3%.

What leads to you losing access to your account? Each city has a maximum cancellation rate, based on the average cancellation rate of sitters in that area. We will alert you multiple times if your cancellation rate is much higher or if you are consistently canceling more often than other sitters in your city, after which you may be logged out of the app. If your cancellation rate continues to exceed the maximum limit, you may lose access to your account.

Acceptance Rates

High acceptance rates are a critical part of reliable, high-quality service, but not accepting booking requests does not lead to permanent loss of your account.

Consistently accepting booking requests helps maximize earnings for sitters and keeps the system running smoothly. We know that sometimes things come up that prevent you from accepting every booking request, or you may want to take a break. But not accepting booking requests dampens the parent experience and degrades the reliability of the system. If you don’t want to accept bookings, just change your schedule.

If you consistently decline booking requests, we will assume you do not want to accept more bookings and you may lose access to your account.

Safety

Actions that threaten the safety of sitters and parents will be investigated and, if confirmed, lead to permanent deactivation of your account. For example:

Physical contact with parents.As our community guidelines make clear, you shouldn’t touch or flirt with other people in the house. As a reminder, Yocura has a no sex rule. That’s no sexual conduct with parents or their family member, no matter what. And you should never hit or otherwise hurt a parent, their family member, or the child you’re looking after.

Use of inappropriate and abusive language or gestures.For example, asking overly personal questions, using verbal threats, and making comments or gestures that are aggressive, sexual, discriminatory, or disrespectful.

Unwanted contact with parents after a booking is over.For example, texting, calling, or visiting someone in person after a booking has been completed.

Breaking the local law while using Yocura.For example, texting while driving; speeding or otherwise breaking local traffic laws; and using Yocura to commit a crime, including drug and human trafficking or the sexual exploitation of children.

Safe Driving.Yocura expects sitters using the app to drive safely at all times when with or without children.

What leads to you losing access to your account? If we are made aware of this type of problematic behavior, we will contact you so we can investigate them. Depending on the nature of the concern, we may put a hold on your account during our investigation. If the issues raised are serious or a repeat offense or you refuse to cooperate, you may lose access to Yocura. Any behavior involving violence, sexual misconduct, harassment, discrimination, or illegal activity while using Yocura can result in the immediate loss of your account. Yocura will also deactivate the account of any sitter who receives several or serious complaints of poor, unsafe, or distracted supervision of the child while using the Yocura app. Additionally, when law enforcement is involved, we will cooperate with their investigation in accordance with the law enforcement guidelines issued by the state

Zero Tolerance for Drugs and Alcohol

Yocura does not tolerate the use of drugs or alcohol by partners while driving or when at a booking.

What leads to you losing access to your account? The account of any sitter found to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol while using the Yocura app will be permanently deactivated. Yocura may also deactivate the account of any sitter who receives several unconfirmed complaints of drug or alcohol use.

Compliance with the Law

We expect sitters using the Yocura app to act in compliance with all relevant state, federal and local laws and the rules of the road at all times. This includes meeting the regulatory requirements for baby-sitting or for-hire sitters in your area.

What leads to you losing access to your account? Yocura may permanently deactivate your account for activities such as: engaging in serious illegal activity while using the Yocura app; not maintaining valid work permit or work visa; not maintaining a valid driver’s license but opting in to drive while using the Yocura app; and receiving serious traffic citations, or several traffic citations that indicate unsafe driving, while using the Yocura app.

Firearms Ban

Yocura prohibits sitters and parents from carrying firearms in a vehicle or in the home while using our app. You can reach out to us on support@yocura.com to learn more about our firearms prohibition policy. If you violate Yocura’s firearms prohibition policy, you may lose access to Yocura.

Background Checks

All sitters wanting to use the Yocura app are required to undergo a screening process, like criminal record and background checks, to ensure safety and compliance with our criteria.

What leads to you losing access to your account? We will permanently deactivate a sitter’s account if a routine background check uncovers a violation of Yocura’s safety standards or of other criteria required by local regulators.

Unacceptable Activities

To maintain the transparency and safety of each booking for all users, activities conducted outside of Yocura’s system – like anonymous booking request, exchange of numbers – are prohibited.

What leads to you losing access to your account? We will take action against a sitter for activities such as: harming the business or brand, like unauthorized use of Yocura‘s trademark or intellectual property, or otherwise violating the sitters’ agreement with Yocura; and soliciting payment of bookings outside the Yocura system.

Fraud

Fraudulent activity undermines the trust on which Yocura is built. That’s why we are constantly on the lookout for fraud by parents and sitters who are gaming our systems.

What leads to you losing access to your account? We will deactivate any account or accounts associated with fraudulent activity, which may include: deliberately increasing the time of a booking; accepting booking requests without the intention to complete, including provoking parents to cancel; creating dummy parent or sitter accounts for fraudulent purposes; claiming fraudulent fees or charges, like cleaning fees; and intentionally accepting or completing fraudulent or falsified bookings.

Accurate Personal Information

The Yocura app is designed to give parents identifying information about sitters, like their name, profile picture, services provided, hourly rate, additional qualification before the booking begins. Inaccurate or outdated information creates confusion among parents and can diminish their experience with Yocura.

What leads to you losing access to your account? We will deactivate your account for activities such as: providing Yocura with inaccurate information; allowing someone else to use your account.

In addition, we will take action to prevent any sitter whose required documentation becomes invalid – like a work permit or work visa that expires – from going online until the sitter provides Yocura with updated information.

Discrimination

Yocura’s mission is to provide trustworthy, engaging and holistic child care experience. We have a zero tolerance policy towards discrimination of any kind at Yocura.

What leads to you losing access to your account? It is unacceptable to refuse to provide services based on where someone lives, or characteristics like a person’s race, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, gender identity, age or any other characteristic protected under relevant federal, state or local law. Actions like these will result in permanent deactivation of your account.

Getting back to being a Sitter After Deactivation

If your account has been deactivated for quality reasons like low star ratings, you may have the opportunity to get back to being a sitter if you provide proof that you’ve successfully taken a quality improvement course offered by third party experts, available in most U.S. cities today. Check with your local Yocura team to find out more. We are also exploring whether these experts provide the option of an equivalent online course, so that this is available to sitters everywhere in the United States at a low cost. In addition, we are exploring ways to create an appeals process for the most contentious cases. We will update this document as and when we have that process in place.